A place of stories and everyday living on the Gaspe Coast. I am a storyteller, a writer and a great listener. I will use this site to share some of the wisdom that I have learned on my own life's journey through the insightful art of storytelling, music, beauty and folklore of this amazing place.

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Friday, July 5, 2013

The Hat Maker

Ellen moved to the city a year ago. Her father had always told her that a young woman was expected to find a good man and to settle down and have babies. Ellen didn't want to find a good man because she had seen her friends and older sisters find good men and now all they did was cook and clean. She wanted more than a vegetable garden to weed and an endless load of laundry to fold. She loved children but they would come in her future when she decided that it was time. For now she wanted to live her life on her terms. She wanted to own a hat shop just like Mrs. Clarkson. Every summer the beautiful lady would come back to town and open up her parents old house to relax for a month. Ellen used to go over and clean the place for her before she arrived and during her stay. When her work was done she would sit in the kitchen and listen to Mrs. Clarkson tell her stories about her shop in the city where she made beautiful hats for women. Every summer she brought Ellen a new hat and told her that when she grew up, she could come and work for her.

Well at eighteen she felt she was grown up enough and when Mrs. Clarkson returned to the city after her vacation, Ellen went with her. Her mother had cried and her father turned cold and silent. He knew he had a head strong daughter and there was nothing he could say to change her mind.

In the first few months after arriving in the city, she learned how to make the hats on the wooden molds using the wool felt and hot water. Then came the decorating, using feathers and hand crafted flowers from silk and velvet. She learned to dye the wool and fabrics so that the hats could be designed to suit even the fanciest demands of the rich ladies who came into the shop.

One morning she arrived at the shop early and the back door was still locked. Usually Mrs. Clarkson was up and at work by this time and she always unlocked the door for Ellen so that they could sit and have breakfast together. This was the time of the day that they went over the orders and decided what had to get done that day.

Ellen had her own key now, just in case something happened, she had been told. If for some reason Mrs. Clarkson had to go away on a buying trip, Ellen would have to open the store and serve the customers. So she unlocked the door and went into the empty kitchen. She called out to her boss but there was no answer. As she went into the living room, she saw her laying on the sofa, still asleep. She called out but there was no answer.

Ellen was now the owner of Belle Hats. Mrs. Clarkson had changed her will after Ellen had started to work for her. She had been diagnosed with a heart condition and without any family of her own, she left her life's work to the one person she knew would keep it going. She had left provisions in her will that if something happened to her, Ellen would be taught the business side of operating the shop under the guidance of her lawyer for a year.

Ellen moved into the Mrs. Clarkson's apartment in the back of the store. She painted it and turned it into a place of her own. She added new styles and a wider selection of hats. Within two years, she had increased sales and was now a proud business owner. Just like Mrs. Clarkson, she never married nor had any children. George had asked her to marry him many times in her life, but she knew that she could never be any man's wife. Every summer she returned home and opened up Mrs. Clarkson's parents old house. She always spent a month in town visiting her family and friends. Every year she brought hats for her mother and sisters. She was a hat maker.

“Leap and the net will appear."

Julia Cameron, Cameron is the best-selling author of "The Artist's Way".

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About Me

My name is Mary, I am a woman and I have a story, just like all of you.

From an early age I was an observer and a storyteller who had a wonderful imagination.I enjoyed listening to others because I had a need to figure out their stories and wanted to understand them. Growing up, life happened... the days of my life turned into the pages of, what seemed, at times an unbelievable story.

I tried to handle each challenge with all the kindness and understanding that I could find within me, as each new scar settled into my broken innocence.

Now, I realize that each player who became a part of my life was living through their own dramatic story. Each being and acting the only way they knew how, according to the narrative they believed about themselves.

On July 22, 2013 my beautiful 25 year old daughter was operated for a brain tumor. It brought back the memories of losing my father to the same operation years ago. They took her in for her surgical procedure on a Sunday night. By 3 a.m. on Monday morning, after almost eight hours, it was over. We still did not know the details except that she was alive and that she responded to a few question when they woke her up minutes after the operation.

On Tuesday morning, the day after her surgery, the man who had been in my life for the past six years took his own life; it was surreal and impossible to believe. Inside, I was shattered but my daughter needed me and I knew that despite all the pain she was in, losing him would bring her more. At that moment I knew it was time to change my story.

I stepped back from the busyness of "normal" life, bowed my head and surrendered to the storm I was lost in. It was the most difficult challenge I had ever experienced and I knew that no one was coming to save me. No one could make it all better... .

My dream has always been to be a writer. I've longed to write about the lives of women from a personal and understanding perspective. I'm not a great writer... actually, far from it. I know I will never be a Jane Austin, nor an Emily Bronte; that is not the reason I write. My hope is that I can use my education, life experiences and story to encourage other women. My mother, who was my role model, always used to say that, "there are better days ahead". I believed her and have used those words throughout my life as a means of moving forward, despite the challenges that seemingly tried to block me.

As a student of the Simply Women Accredited Training Institute, I have the honor of working with the visionary empowerment coach and teacher Crystal Andrus, who is the head of a unique world wide women's empowerment educational movement.